Ɏ AN IVORY FIGURE OF A ‘DOCTOR’S LADY’, LATE MING DYNASTY 晚明象牙雕醫用臥女像

China, 16th-17th century. Well carved as a naked woman lying in a recumbent position, the face with delicate features. Her head rests on her right hand while one leg is demurely bent above the other. She is wearing bangles at her wrists and minuscule lotus shoes. Her hair is pulled back in an elaborate topknot.

Provenance: French private collection.
Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear, natural age cracks, fine patina, very few minuscule nicks. The ivory with a warm, naturally grown, honey-golden patina.

Weight: 80.8 g
Dimensions: Length 12.2 cm

Expert’s note: Figures of this type have in the past been known as 'medicine ladies' or 'doctor's models', based on the notion that when a doctor visited a woman she would reach through the curtains of her bed and touch the ivory figure to indicate the spot causing her trouble. However, figures like the present one are nowadays believed to have had a more erotic intention and their nakedness and specific position to be based on Sino-Spanish ivory figures of the infant Jesus that would have been seen by Chinese craftsmen during the Ming dynasty.

Literature comparison: For the Sino-Spanish prototype and a Chinese ivory carving of a recumbent woman, dated late 16th-early 17th century, see the exhibition catalog, Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1984, p. 42, figs. 6 and 7. Another similar figure is illustrated in Chinese Ivories from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 218-9, no. 97.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related ivory figure of a doctor’s lady, also dated 16th-17th century, at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 20 September 2005, lot 53, sold for USD 6,000.

晚明象牙雕醫用臥女像
中國，十六至十七世紀。裸女側臥，五官精緻，體態豐腴，她的頭靠在右手上，一條腿靠在另一條腿上。 手腕上戴著手鐲，三寸金蓮著繡鞋。頭髮被梳成精緻的髮髻。雕工細巧。

來源：法國私人收藏。
品相：品相極好，輕微磨損，天然年代裂紋，包漿細膩，成蜜金色，細微磕損。

重量：80.8 克
尺寸：長 12.2 厘米

拍賣結果比較：一件相近象牙雕醫用臥女，同樣為十六至十七世紀，見紐約佳士得 Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 2005年9月 20日，lot 53, 售價USD 6,000。

Lot details

China, 16th-17th century. Well carved as a naked woman lying in a recumbent position, the face with delicate features. Her head rests on her right hand while one leg is demurely bent above the other. She is wearing bangles at her wrists and minuscule lotus shoes. Her hair is pulled back in an elaborate topknot.

Provenance: French private collection.
Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear, natural age cracks, fine patina, very few minuscule nicks. The ivory with a warm, naturally grown, honey-golden patina.

Weight: 80.8 g
Dimensions: Length 12.2 cm

Expert’s note: Figures of this type have in the past been known as 'medicine ladies' or 'doctor's models', based on the notion that when a doctor visited a woman she would reach through the curtains of her bed and touch the ivory figure to indicate the spot causing her trouble. However, figures like the present one are nowadays believed to have had a more erotic intention and their nakedness and specific position to be based on Sino-Spanish ivory figures of the infant Jesus that would have been seen by Chinese craftsmen during the Ming dynasty.

Literature comparison: For the Sino-Spanish prototype and a Chinese ivory carving of a recumbent woman, dated late 16th-early 17th century, see the exhibition catalog, Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1984, p. 42, figs. 6 and 7. Another similar figure is illustrated in Chinese Ivories from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 218-9, no. 97.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related ivory figure of a doctor’s lady, also dated 16th-17th century, at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 20 September 2005, lot 53, sold for USD 6,000.

晚明象牙雕醫用臥女像
中國，十六至十七世紀。裸女側臥，五官精緻，體態豐腴，她的頭靠在右手上，一條腿靠在另一條腿上。 手腕上戴著手鐲，三寸金蓮著繡鞋。頭髮被梳成精緻的髮髻。雕工細巧。

來源：法國私人收藏。
品相：品相極好，輕微磨損，天然年代裂紋，包漿細膩，成蜜金色，細微磕損。

重量：80.8 克
尺寸：長 12.2 厘米

拍賣結果比較：一件相近象牙雕醫用臥女，同樣為十六至十七世紀，見紐約佳士得 Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 2005年9月 20日，lot 53, 售價USD 6,000。